TEHRAN (Agencies): Tehran reserves the right to react to last month’s Israeli airstrikes on Iran, but it also considers other developments in the region such as the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday in Lisbon.
He told reporters Iran welcomed Tuesday’s agreement and hoped it could lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Asked whether the ceasefire could lead to an easing of tensions between Israel and Iran, Araghchi said: “It depends on the behavior of Israel.”
“Of course, we reserve the right to react to the recent Israeli aggression, but we do consider all developments in the region,” he said.
Israel struck targets in Iran on Oct. 26 in retaliation for Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage against Israel.
Ali Larijani, a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, said in an interview published by the state-linked Tasnim news agency on Sunday that his country was preparing to “respond” to Israel.
Earlier in the day, the Iranian foreign ministry welcomed the end of Israel’s “aggression” in Lebanon, after a ceasefire came into force on Wednesday between Israel and Hezbollah, an armed group backed by Tehran.
Hailing the news of the end of Israel’s “aggression against Lebanon,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei in a statement stressed Iran’s “firm support for the Lebanese government, nation and resistance.”
He also called on the international community to “exert effective pressure” on Israel to end the war in Gaza.
The war in Lebanon has dealt blows to Hezbollah, killing the group’s charismatic leader Hassan Nasrallah in September in a powerful Israeli strike in Beirut, as well as many other top ranking officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the truce in Lebanon would allow his country to “focus on the Iranian threat,” without elaborating.
Israel’s assault on Hezbollah left the Lebanese group weakened, but not completely crushed, with many of its supporters in Lebanon hailing the end of the war as a “victory.”__The Frontier Post
